U.S. Coast Guard Academy Stamp Commemorates 150th Anniversary

On July 31, 1876, Congress passed legislation authorizing the Revenue Cutter Service to appoint cadets and promote them through examination. Although this authorization was just a small piece of a larger appropriations bill, its impact was massive, enabling the creation of an institution that has endured for 150 years: the United States Coast Guard Academy.

Rather than attending a traditional campus, the first cadets at what was originally named the Revenue Cutter School of Instruction learned foundational navigation and sailing skills aboard the topsail schooner James C. Dobbin. In 1878, a brand new three-masted barque, the cutter Salmon P. Chase, replaced the aging Dobbin and went on to serve as the Academy’s primary training vessel for nearly three decades. The Revenue Cutter School of Instruction eventually moved ashore in 1900 and officially became the United States Coast Guard Academy in 1915.

The present-day campus in New London, Connecticut, opened in 1932, and its cadets now can choose one of 10 available majors and participate in a wide array of extracurricular activities. Like their predecessors aboard the Dobbin and the Chase, they also gain firsthand knowledge of seamanship aboard “America’s Tall Ship,” the barque Eagle, sometimes on weeks-long ocean-crossing cruises. Each graduate commits to at least five years of service and earns both a Bachelor of Science degree and a commission as an ensign in the United States Coast Guard. As officers, they take leadership roles among the Coast Guard’s many essential missions, including protecting the marine transportation system, regulating and safeguarding ports and waterways, leading the nation in maritime drug interdiction, and securing the maritime border.

To commemorate the Academy’s 150th anniversary, art director and stamp designer Antonio Alcalá drew his inspiration from the long tradition of training cadets on the ocean and the Coast Guard’s role in protecting the nation. A photograph of the barque Eagle, the Coast Guard Academy’s primary training vessel since 1946, with its sails unfurled and an American flag billowing in the wind, graces the top half of the stamp. On the bottom half of the stamp is a photograph of USCGC (United States Coast Guard Cutter) Bertholf, a Legend-class National Security Cutter whose missions include maritime drug interdiction and securing the maritime border. Both cutters are tinted blue to evoke the water and sky.

With this design, Alcalá wanted to acknowledge the past while tying it to the present. Together, these two ships celebrate the rich history of the Academy while recognizing the Coast Guard’s vital role in maintaining national security.

USPS issues this stamp in honor of the Academy and the past, present, and future cadets whose commitment to service fully embodies the Coast Guard motto: Semper Paratus – Always Ready.